The announcement out of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) that a
new form of matter called a "quark gluon plasma" (QGP) may have been created is
another important milestone in a series of studies that began in the early
1980s at Berkeley Lab and will continue with a new round of experiments
starting later this year on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at
Brook-haven National Laboratory. From Berkeley to Geneva and on to Long Island,
researchers with Berkeley Lab's Nuclear Science Division (NSD) have been key
players in the search for the elusive plasma believed to have been the
antecedent of all matter in the universe today.

Quarks are one of the families of fermions, the basic constituents of matter.
Gluons are bosons, carriers of the strong force that binds quarks together into
hadrons such as protons or neutrons. In the ordinary matter that makes up us
and the world in which we live, quarks are never free of gluons or other
quarks. In the experiments at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), however,
collisions between high-energy beams of lead nuclei generated temperatures
100,000 times hotter than the interior of the sun. Within the extremely dense
fireball at the heart of these collisions, the ties that bind quarks and gluons
may have melted, creating a soup-like plasma of free-floating individual
particles.

QGP is believed to have been the state of matter under the extreme pressure and
temperature conditions that prevailed in the first 10 microseconds after the
Big Bang. Although highly transient -- a QGP quickly cools and reverts to the
ordinary state of matter -- the QGP in its brief existence set the stage for
the combinations of particles that make up our universe today. QGP is also
thought to be the state of matter in the dense cores of neutron stars. Creating
a QGP in particle accelerators could yield new insights into how our universe
was formed and a better understanding of the behavior of atomic nuclei.

"A common assessment of the collected data leads us to conclude that we now
have compelling evidence that a new state of matter has been created at energy
densities that have never been reached over appreciable volumes in laboratory
experiments before, and which exceed by more than a factor of 20 that of normal
matter," the CERN announcement read.

In response to this announcement, Xin-Nian Wang, a theorist with NSD says, "The
experiments at CERN so far are excellent and have provided us much more
information that we did not know before. However, like so many other
(relativistic heavy ion) experiments, for each QGP signal there are
backgrounds. Sorting out these backgrounds is a challenge. It is like a murder
trial without a smoking gun. The key is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The
experiments at SPS have failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the
phenomena can only be attributed to QGP and nothing else."

Nuclear theorists are in agreement that if atomic nuclei are squeezed hard
enough under conditions of high pressure and temperature, a QGP will form. Over
the course of several years' worth of experiments at the SPS, nuclei of lead
with their 208 hadrons (82 protons and 126 neutrons) were accelerated into
beams with energies in excess of 160 billion electron volts per nucleon and
smashed together.

While the data suggests that these lead nuclei were squeezed hard enough to
have produced de-confined quark-gluon matter (also referred to as "partonic"
matter), many nuclear physicists at Berkeley Lab and elsewhere do not believe
there is enough evidence that the QGP was produced.

Everyone, including scientists at CERN, agrees that more definitive proof
should be forthcoming from the experiments at RHIC where collisions of gold
nuclei will take place at 10 times higher energy densities than the lead nuclei
at SPS.

These experiments are expected to yield a true QGP, and hold that state long
enough for it to be studied. Berkeley Lab researchers designed and constructed
a large volume Time Projection Chamber and a significant portion of the
electronics for STAR, one of RHIC's two large-scale detector systems. The
higher energy densities in combination with a sophisticated detector array like
STAR should make it possible to produce a QGP and perform the types of
systematic and meticulous studies needed to understand it.

For example, says Wang, "One way to detect QGP is to scan over a wide range of
reactions. Since the matter produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions is in
very small amounts, one does not expect to see very sharp features or
discontinuity in the scan. However, if one finds a bump or a step in the scan,
it would be an unambiguous signature of QGP."

Another of the promising new experiments scheduled for RHIC is one in which
"jets" (energetic beams of quarks) will be observed crossing through the center
of the collision fireball where the QGP would be. Analyzing how the jets
propagate through the fireball and measuring the amount of "quenching" or
energy loss that occurs should reveal whether or not a QGP was created.

Hans Georg Ritter is one of the pioneers in the QGP hunt and now heads NSD's
Relativistic Nuclear Collisions program. He says, "The combined results from
the experiments at CERN present tantalizing hints of the exciting new physics
that await us at RHIC."

Some light may soon be shed on dark matter, the invisible stuff of which most
of the universe seems to be made. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS), a
collaboration of researchers from ten institutions including Berkeley Lab,
today announced that they have achieved "the world's best discrimination in the
search for dark matter." Their findings appear "incompatible" with the findings
reported by another multi-institutional collaboration, the announcement said.

Various astronomical observations combined with more than 70 years of combined
astrophysics and particle physics research have shown that perhaps as much as
90 percent of the known universe is made up of matter that is visible to us
only by its gravitational effects. Since it cannot be seen by the light it
emits, this matter has been dubbed "dark." The nature of dark matter holds
implications for the evolution, structure and ultimate fate of the universe, as
well as for our current physics models. Consequently, astrophysicists and
cosmologists have undertaken an intense search for the source of dark matter.
One of the prime potential candidates is a family of weakly interacting massive
particles, or "WIMPS."

Last Saturday the New York Times broke the story that the DArk MAtter
experiment (DAMA), a collaboration based in Rome and Beijing, was reporting
evidence of having found a particular type of WIMP called a "neutralino." This
particle was said to be at least 50 times more massive than a proton yet so
non-interactive with conventional matter that a billion of them might pass
through your body every second without a trace.

The DAMA results were based on three years of data collected on a sodium iodide
detector operated deep underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in
Italy. In a statistical analysis of tens of thousands of recorded events,
seasonal fluctuations were observed that were attributed to the movement of
Earth either with or against the flow of a massive cloud of WIMPs permeating
our galaxy.

At the Fourth International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter
in the Universe in Marina del Rey, California, the CDMS collaboration announced
their own results, which are based on an entirely new type of detector
technology that employs crystals kept at cryogenic temperatures to detect
potential dark matter particles. So far, this most discriminating of all dark
matter detector systems has found no particles that could be clearly identified
as WIMPs. The events they have detected have all been attributed to neutrons.

"The powerful technology we deploy derives its advantage from being able to
distinguish background events that result from many of the known particles
interacting in the crystals from those that are likely to be dark matter
interactions," says Bernard Sadoulet, the spokes-person for CDMS and a staff
scientist with Berkeley Lab's Physics Division. "This discrimination allows an
unambiguous identification of events in the crystals caused by any new form of
matter." Sadoulet is also a professor of physics at UC Berkeley and the head of
the Center for Particle Astrophysics where he has been leading the search for
WIMP candidates.

The key to the high sensitivity of the CDMS detectors are crystals of germanium
or silicon cooled to within 0.1 degrees above absolute zero (the coldest
possible temperature). A WIMP such as a neutralino interacting with a nucleus
in these crystals will produce both heat and ionization at characteristic
ratios which can be used to reject background on an event-by-event basis.

"What is most exciting to me is that we've been able to employ a new type of
detector developed explicitly to do this type of measurement, to obtain a
result with implications for a fundamental question in cosmology," says UC
Berkeley physicist Tony Spadafora, the deputy project manager for CDMS who is
also affiliated with the Lab's Physics Division. "These measurements are
difficult and take a long time because WIMP signals are thought be very small
and infrequent".

Much of the development of the CDMS detectors was done by Sunil Golwala, a UC
Berkeley graduate student, working with semiconductor crystal expert Eugene
Haller of the Lab's Materials Sciences Division.

The detectors are housed inside a unique cryostat, designed and built at
Berkeley Lab by a team led by Ron Ross of Physics Division and Dick Wolgast of
the Engineering Division. This cryostat maintains ultra-low temperatures while
helping to shield the detectors from cosmic radiation. The CDMS experiment is
being carried out inside a cave 10.5 meters below the surface of the Stanford
campus. The combination of dirt and cryostat shielding reduces the influence of
cosmic and terrestrial radiation by a factor of about 10,000.

The events that do breach the shielding are primarily gamma and beta rays which
produce electron recoils within the detectors. WIMPs, including neutralinos,
would only interact with atomic nuclei, and the CDMS detectors can tell whether
a recoiling particle was an electron or a nucleus by simultaneously measuring
the ratio of heat to ionization generated within the germanium or silicon
crystals. After eliminating all electron recoils from their data sets, the CDMS
researchers observed 13 nuclear recoils. They concluded that all were from
neutrons which, like neutralinos, interact only with nuclei.

Says Sadoulet, "No rigorous statement can be made on the compatibility between
our experiment and the DAMA experiment because we are using different target
materials. However, in the favored theoretical framework we appear to be
seriously incompatible. The possibility remains though that the physics for
this unknown particle is different from what we expect and that we are both
right!"

The CDMS project is funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy and by the
National Science Foundation in a collaboration coordinated by the Center for
Particle Astrophysics. The next phase of the project, CDMS II, has recently
been approved by DOE and NSF.

Says Spadafora, "We're starting construction on a version of our apparatus to
be run in a former iron mine in northern Minnesota. This deep underground
location provides much better shielding from cosmic rays, which will allow us
to do an even more sensitive experiment"

In addition to Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley and Stanford, the CDMS collaboration
includes groups from UC Santa Barbara, Fermilab, Case Western Reserve
University, Santa Clara University, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, the University of Colorado, and Princeton.

A House bill that would slash DOE funding for high-performance computing
between FY 2000 and 2004 came under heavy criticism from Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson, who said it would "cripple" research in areas ranging from
high-energy physics to fusion R&D at NERSC and other facilities.

By voice vote the House approved the National Information Technology R&D
Act, which authorizes $6.8 billion for high-performance computing work over
five years at six agencies, including DOE. The department was scheduled to
receive $571 million under an earlier version of the bill, but Rep. Michael
Capuano (D-Mass) succeeded in amending it to reduce DOE's share to $303.6
million.

In a letter to House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.,
Richardson said Congress must maintain a high level of funding for advanced
computing at DOE to achieve long-term scientific research goals. The Capuano
amendment, Richardson said, "would deprive a large scientific community of the
necessary tools to advance research in many areas, and consequently cripple our
ability to address some of the most pressing scientific problems."

In response, Sensenbrenner criticized Richardson and the DOE for not doing "a
better job of justifying funding requests." Capuano said Congress should shift
computing funding from the DOE to the NSF. Capuano's district includes MIT,
which hosts a prominent computing research center.

Bill McCurdy, Berkeley Lab's associate director for Computing Sciences and
former head of NERSC, told Inside Energy that NERSC wrote the software that
enabled NSF to operate its supercomputers. He also said that cuts in funding
for high-performance computing would harm interactions with scientists in other
nations who use ESNet, the nationwide computer network that connects DOE labs
and universities.

The House measure now goes to the Senate, where a companion bill has yet to be
introduced.

Secretary Bill Richardson has appointed a task force to review DOE policies
governing the release or recycling of contaminated metals and other materials.
He also continued a moratorium on the release of volumetrically contaminated
metals at department facilities "at least until" the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission decides whether to set a standard for the use of such materials.

"These actions are intended to better ensure the protection of public health
and the environment, openness and public trust, and fiscal responsibility,"
Richardson said in a memo. The task force is co-chaired by Brian Costner and
Steve Cary. The Secretary said the panel will review policies "regarding the
release of all materials for re-use and recycling."

On Saturday at 3 p.m. the American Chemical Society will dedicate four Berkeley
Lab sites (Bldgs. 70, 71, 88 and 5) as National Historic Chemical Landmarks to
commemorate the 14 new transuranium elements discovered at the Lab from 1949 to
1999. It was here on the Hill that teams of scientists developed the theories
and techniques to synthesize and identify elements with increasingly higher
atomic numbers beyond element 96 (curium), culminating in 1999 with the
discovery of elements 118, 116 and 114. Their efforts could ultimately extend
the Periodic Table to a long-sought region of nuclear stability known as the
"Island of Superheavy Elements."

Prior to the site dedication, the ACS will hold a workshop on the Periodic
Table, with featured speaker Eric Norman. Photos by Roy Kaltschmidt, collage by
Shannon Magee

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that the University of California
will continue to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory. DOE said it saw no
need to exercise an "off-ramp" option to void its contract with UC, which runs
through FY2001, and cited UC's improved environmental record and improvements
in safety and health conditions at the lab.

"I am pleased that improvements by UC and Los Alamos management have been made
so that the off-ramp provision of the contract did not have to be exercised,"
Secretary Bill Richardson said in a statement. "We hope UC and Los Alamos
continue this trend and that their performance continues to improve."

LANL Director John Browne said a new integrated safety management program has
made the lab a safer place and helped improve environmental restoration and
waste management. "Our many lab initiatives to strengthen regional and
community relations will also continue to grow," Browne said.

The decision not to invoke the off-ramp clause has no bearing on whether DOE
will decide to extend UC's contract at LANL when it expires in 2002 or whether
to conduct a competition for a new contract, Richardson said.

Last November the UC Board of Regents adopted a resolution in support of
Proposition 26 on the March 7 ballot. If passed, the initiative would allow
voter approval of local school bond issues by a simple majority rather than the
current two-thirds vote requirement. Local school districts, community college
districts and county education offices throughout California would be affected
by the change.

"Because it would impact the capability of K-12 schools to fund improved
teaching environments and foster higher student achievement, the act may
ultimately enhance the preparedness of high school students for enrollment and
academic success at UC campuses," said UC President Richard C. Atkinson.

Given the rising K-12 public school enrollment, an additional 63,000 students
are likely to attend UC campuses by 2010. New actions will need to be taken,
such as construction of new schools, hiring of teachers, and improvements of
facilities. The initiative has the support of the CSU Board of Trustees, the
California Teachers Association, the California Chamber of Commerce, and the
California School Boards Association. It is opposed by Save Our Homes, a group
formed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Organization, which argues that the
two-thirds standard protects property owners who are responsible for repaying
the school bonds.

William Chu of Life Sciences and Ashok Gadgil of the Environmental Energy
Technologies Division are among the 26 winners of the 2000 FLC Award for
Excellence in Technology Transfer, awarded by the Federal Laboratory Consortium
for Technology Transfer.

Chu is being honored for his work in applying accelerator-based particle
therapy to destroying cancerous tumors. (For more information see the Fall 1997
issue of Research Review.) Gadgil's award recognized his work on the UV
Waterworks, a small, inexpensive device that uses ultraviolet light to
disinfect water of the viruses and bacteria that cause serious diseases. (See
the Dec. 4, 1998 issue of Currents.)

The FLC is a federal agency that helps match the needs of the private sector,
state and local governments, and universities with federal laboratory expertise
and facilities.

FLC 2000 Awards also went to scientists at five other DOE laboratories. The
awards ceremony will be held on May 10 during FLC's national meeting in
Charleston, South Carolina.

Researchers using the Plastic Ball detector in 1984 at the Bevalac discovered
the first evidence of compressed nuclear matter. Shown here from left are
Hans-Georg Ritter, Hans Gutbrod and Art Poskanzer, who were members of that
discovery team.

In 1984, a collaboration of researchers with Berkeley Lab and from GSI in
Germany, working at the Bevalac -- the accelerator configuration when the
Bevatron was coupled to the SuperHILAC -- found the first direct evidence that
nuclear matter can be compressed to high temperature and density in an
accelerator. This marked the first major milestone in the search for a quark
gluon plasma or QGP (see main story).

The evidence discovered was a phenomenon called "collective flow." In the
immediate aftermath of collisions between a beam of niobium and a niobium
target it was observed that the protons, neutrons and other subatomic particles
released in these collisions hung together for a fraction of a second before
flying apart.

"This was our initial look at how dense nuclear matter behaves," says Art
Poskanzer, a physicist with Berkeley Lab's Nuclear Science Division (NSD) and
one of the leaders of that collective flow experiment.

Another participant in that collective flow experiment was physicist Hans Georg
Ritter who at the time was with GSI and how heads NSD's Relativistic Nuclear
Collisions program. Says Ritter, "Much of the basic theoretical and
experimental framework for our understanding of collisions between heavy nuclei
was developed at the Bevalac."

Within a few years, the Berkeley Lab researchers had shifted their focus to the
Super Proton Synchroton (SPS) at CERN, where collision energies were 100 times
higher than those that could be reached at the Bevalac. In collaboration with
scientists from GSI and CERN they initiated a relativistic heavy ion program.
Lab researchers helped construct an injector that initially enabled the SPS to
accelerate oxygen and sulfur to relativistic energies, and eventually to
produce the lead-lead collisions whose results are now being reported.

In a head-on collision between two beams of lead nuclei in the SPS, about 2,500
particles are created, virtually all of them hadrons. Since a change-of-state
from ordinary matter to a QGP is almost immediately followed by a change back
to ordinary matter, the plasma's existence must be inferred by studying its
final products. This requires an elaborate system of detectors.

Berkeley Lab researchers played a major part in the construction of several
critical detector systems for the SPS heavy ion program. They also played a
major part in the science done on those detectors.

The tradition of Berkeley Lab contributions to detectors aimed at capturing the
elusive QGP has continued with the new facility at Brookhaven called the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC. Berkeley scientists and engineers led
the collaboration that designed and constructed STAR -- the Solenoid Tracker At
RHIC -- one of the accelerator's two giant detector systems. They will be major
participants in the science there as well.

Junko Hosoda, a retired Lab biochemist, passed away on Feb. 8 at the age of 67
after a three-year battle with endometrial cancer.

A native of Japan, Hosoda earned her Ph. D. from the University of Tokyo, and
was a pioneer among Japanese women pursuing scientific careers. She came to the
U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship in 1963 and, after 4 years at MIT, joined the
Space Sciences Laboratory. In 1978 she joined Berkeley Lab, where she stayed
until her retirement in 1994. Hosuda continued to work here as a guest
researcher until her illness made this impossible.

Hosoda was highly regarded for her seminal work on structure-function
relationships of the gene 32 protein of T4 bacteriophage, which provided an
early model for a group of proteins that serve important roles in DNA
replication, recombination and repair. In later years she applied the insight
she gained using this model to the study of proteins involved in DNA metabolism
in yeast, and then to the characterization of human proteins involved in breast
cancer cells.

Hosoda and her group were among the original Lab denizens of Bldg. 934, an
offsite building near Berkeley's Aquatic Park. It was there that she found her
beloved Kuro, a stray dog who became her faithful companion for the next 17
years.

Those who worked with Hosoda remember her cheerfulness, her love of research,
and her fondness for her adopted country. Her hobbies included gardening,
cooking, and most recently silk painting. She also used to decorate Bldg. 934
with fresh flowers and exotic plants.

In her final years Hosoda's serenity and courage in the face of pain and
impending death reflected the way in which she lived her life. She credited her
illness with giving her an increased ability to appreciate each moment and the
importance of human relationships. These insights, together with her scientific
legacy and unflagging love of research will continue to be an inspiration to
those who knew her.

Hosoda is survived by a sister, a brother, a nephew and a niece. A private
service at sea will be scheduled in May by the Neptune Society.

The IRIS Data Warehouse, the Lab's centralized web-based source of up-to-date
information on finances, purchasing and more, has been streamlined for easier
use and increased flexibility. To help users with the transition, the Lab's
Information Systems and Services Department (ISS) is sponsoring a brown-bag
seminar on IRIS Version 2, to be held on Tuesday, March 7 at noon in the Bldg.
50 auditorium. All interested employees are invited to attend.

IRIS was created several years ago as an electronic alternative to the Lab's
central, paper-based reporting system, which churned out stacks of paper
reports. With the adoption of PeopleSoft applications for general ledger and
human resources data, the Lab also modernized its data reporting system. The
result was known as the Integrated Reporting and Information System, or IRIS.

IRIS allows users to check on the financial status of projects and procurements
in order to obtain information such as how much has been spent on a project,
who is charging a project number, or purchase order status.

Information about training and property records can also be accessed via IRIS.
Users can choose a quick status snapshot or request a more formal report.

The new IRIS interface is easier to use than the previous version and makes a
wider range of information available to users. Additionally, employees won't
need a separate account to access the data. The new version will provide
authentication and access using the same underlying employee database as the
Lab's IMAP4 e-mail and electronic calendaring systems. Employees who already
have IMAP4 passwords can use them for IRIS; those who don't can call the
computer support Help Desk at X4357 to obtain a password.

The Computing Infrastructure Support Department recommends that employees
change their computer passwords at least once every few months to enhance
security, thereby protecting both their own computer's data and that of the
Lab's network systems. For assistance with changing or protecting passords,
contact the computer support Help Desk at X4357.

It's almost time for Christmas -- in April, that is. And Lisa Gartland, a
former post-doc in the Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division is
hoping Lab employees will join the effort.

Gartland, now a private consultant on energy efficiency for government
agencies, businesses and communities, is organizing "energy teams" for local
chapters of Christmas in April, a charitable organization that rehabilitates
and repairs homes for low-income, disabled or senior citizens who can't pay for
or perform this work on their own.

Every year volunteers come together on one Saturday in April -- the 29th this
year -- to paint, repair, make earthquake and other safety improvements, and
now, to also enhance the homes' energy efficiency.

"Energy Team 2000 volunteers add energy and water efficiency measures to the
mix," Gartland says. "Teams of five to six people will travel from house to
house adding compact fluorescent lamps, caulking and weather-stripping, and
adding water heater blankets. A few special teams will work on more highly
skilled jobs, like adding insulation or replacing light fixtures."

Last year the first energy team visited 30 homes for the Albany/Berkeley/
Emeryville chapter and implemented more than 150 energy and water conservation
measures, saving an average of $60 a year for each homeowner. A number of
volunteers from Berkeley Lab participated in the effort.

This year the teams will work with six Christmas in April affiliates: the
Albany/ Berkeley/Emeryville/Oakland chapter(50 homes), Castro Valley (18
homes), Marin County (12 homes), Mid-Peninsula (60 homes), San Francisco (65
homes), and South Bay (30 homes). They hope to visit more than 200 homes and
save residents $12,000 annually in utility bills.

With this goal in mind Gartland started "Rebuild in April," a chapter of DOE's
Rebuild America program, which brings energy-efficient and environmentally
friendly technologies to communities through local partnerships. This effort
allows Garland to tap into DOE resources, including help from Rebuild America's
marketing and communications department and contacts with business partners in
the energy field. Garland also received a grant from the program's technical
support funding, "thanks to the efforts of Berkeley Lab's Rick Diamond and Dale
Sartor."

But volunteers continue to be the backbone of Christmas in April. "Anyone is
welcome to volunteer for the Energy Teams, regardless of experience," Sartor
says. "All it requires is one night of training and your time on April 29th. In
return you'll get the satisfaction of helping those in need -- and all the
doughnuts you can eat."

To participate contact Lisa Gartland at (510) 595-PNRG, lisa@pstvnrg.com. More
information is available on her website at http//www.pstvnrg.com/xina.

Radioactive radon gas seeping into houses from the soil below poses a health
risk to people living in certain parts of the United States. Now, a new website
developed jointly by scientists at Berkeley Lab and Columbia University uses
advanced mathematical methods, research on radon gas infiltration and geologic
data to help homeowners determine when and how to reduce health risk from radon
exposure.

The Radon Project Website ( http: //www.stat.columbia.edu/radon) was developed
by Phil Price of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division and
Andrew Gelman and his colleagues at Columbia University's Department of
Statistics.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas resulting from the radioactive
decay of radium. Studies of uranium miners have shown that breathing high
concentrations of radon can increase the risk of developing lung cancer. In
parts of the United States, enough radon gas seeps out of soil into basements
and crawlspaces to pose a health risk to people living in homes built on that
soil.

Radon infiltrates homes through basements and cracks. The Radon Project Website
allows home-owners to assess whether the radon in their home and area poses a
health risk. Image by the U.S. Geological Survey

"The Radon Project Website can help homeowners determine whether they are
breathing potentially dangerous levels of radon," says Price, "and whether
those risks are high enough to warrant making measurements of their actual
exposure or having a contractor come in to install measures to reduce radon
infiltration in their house. Policymakers can also use the site as a tool to
determine optimal policies for addressing radon health risks."

Website users pick their home state and county on a U.S. map which shows the
estimated median living-area radon concentration by county. They are then asked
to provide relevant information, such as the location of the basement, radon
measurements made in their area, and the number of smokers and non-smokers
living in the house (radon exposure increases the risk of lung cancer more for
smokers than non-smokers).

Default values for acceptable risk levels and the estimated costs of reducing
exposure to acceptable levels are automatically entered unless the user chooses
to adjust these values. The program then calculates the probable level of radon
exposure in the user's home and displays an exposure probability curve and a
table showing the costs of various measures, such as short- or long-term
testing to accurately measure radon levels, or immediate remediation.
Recommendations are made based on the exposure level calculated.

Radon levels between 2 and 10 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) may pose some risk,
and levels above 10 pCi/L are considered definitely dangerous. Research
estimates indicate that 50,000 to 100,000 U.S. homes have radon concentrations
in excess of 20 pCi/L -- a level roughly equivalent to the lifetime exposure of
a uranium miner.

Radon levels, however, may vary tremendously even within a single county. To
cope with the uncertainty regarding the amounts of radon present at a specific
locale, the Radon Project Website software employs a unique method of modeling.

"Hierachical modeling allows the software to take the spatial variability of
radon into account when calculating the odds of radon exposure where the home
is located," says Price.

Price and Gelman co-developed the computational theory underlying the
hierachical modeling. Data and model parameters for the website were provided
by Berkeley Lab researchers based on maps of soil radon concentration obtained
from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Price wrote the computer code for using the data in the website's software. The
Columbia researchers wrote the FORTRAN program to implement the computational
theory.

Berkeley Lab researchers have been studying radon infiltration into U.S. homes
for more than 15 years and developed the currently preferred remediation method
of sub-slab depressurization.

A description of the theory used in the Radon Project Website software was
published in the journal Statistical Science, v. 14, no. 3, pp 305-337,
"Analysis of Local Decisions Using Hierarchical Modeling, Applied to Home Radon
Measurement and Remediation," by Chia-yu Lin, Andrew Gelman, Philip Price and
David Krantz.

Berkeley Lab is sponsoring activities throughout the month of March in
recognition of national Women's History Month. All Lab employees are invited.
Students from local area schools will also attend the events, which are
organized by the Lab's Work Force Diversity Office.

"What is Plastic Surgery?" will be discussed by Violet E. Smallhorne, a board
certified plastic surgeon. She will over-view plastic surgery and also discuss
breast cancer awareness. Dr. Smallhorne has a distinguished background in
academics, surgical training and cosmetic surgery. She attended medical school
at Stanford University.

March 28, noon, Bldg. 50 auditoriumPresenter: Judith Campisi

Judith Campisi, head of Berkeley Lab's Center for Research and Education in
Aging, will talk about "How and Why We Age." Her laboratory studies focus on
the cellular and molecular basis of aging and cancer.

Movie Series

March 16 and March 21, Noon, Bldg. 50 auditorium

"The Way Home: Stories of Identity, Oppression and Resistance" will be shown.
The movie focuses on 64 women representing a cross section of American cultures
who share their experiences of oppression through the lens of race.

Early registration for the Summer 2000 Science Exploration Camp begins on
Wednesday, March 1, for children of Berkeley Lab and UC employees and for last
years' participants.

SEC runs six one-week sessions from July 24 through Sept. 1 that offer a mix of
recreational and science-oriented activities. The program will accommodate
approximately 30 children in second through sixth grade.

Camp fees are $180 per week during the early registration period (March 1-March
31), $195 per week during open registration (April 1 - May 15), and $210 per
week after May 15. The fees cover the core program (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) as
well as before- and after-camp care (7:45 to 9:00 and 4:00 to 5:15).

assistant director : provide continuity between the morning science
program and the afternoon recreation program, and lead the recreation program,
including outdoor activities, field trips, and quiet time activities.

camp counselors (three positions open): assist with science activities
during the morning and recreational activities in the afternoon. Applicants
should be entering twelfth grade or older.

volunteers: two energetic high school students in grades 8 through 11 are
needed to volunteer as counselors-in-training (CITs) for each week of SEC.
Under the supervision of the camp director and assistant director, the CIT will
assist with science and recreational activities.

For more information about the Science Exploration Camp call X6566, send e-mail
to sciencecamp@lbl.gov, or look up the SEC website at http:// eande.lbl.
gov/EAP/SEC/secindex.htm.

National Instruments will be hosting a LabVIEW Users Group meeting at Berkeley
Lab on March 14 from 10:30 to 12:00 in Bldg. 50A-5132. A representative will
discuss architecture, application development, and deployment pertaining to
LabVIEW RT. Specific topics will include real-time data acquisition and
control; reducing development time, and lowering costs of real-time systems
with flexible, easy-to-use development tools; and off-the-shelf industry
standard hardware. Participants will see LabVIEW RT run in real-time on plug-in
DAQ boards and on embedded PXI/cPCI controllers.

A new four-week series of dance lessons will start on Monday, March 20, from
noon to 1:00 p.m. on the lower level of Bldg. 51. West coast swing and line
dancing will be the featured dances. No previous dance experience is required.
Free practice sessions are held every Wednesday at noon at the same location.
The lessons are taught by professional dance instructor Charlene Van Ness.

The cost is $20 for the four-week session or $6 per lesson on a drop-in basis.
Participants are urged to arrive 10 minutes early for the first session to
register. For further information contact Joy Kono at JNKono@lbl.gov or Sharon
Fujimura at SPFujimura@ lbl.gov.

The Facilities Department is providing the Lab with rush courier service, with
pick-up and delivery both on- and off-site. Transportation can deliver up to
2,000 pounds anywhere in the Bay Area or in central or northern California.

Onsite materials will be delivered within one hour. For offsite service, a
driver is available during normal business hours for same-day pick up and
delivery. To request a pick-up, call Peggy Patterson at X5404.

Courier service (two-hour, four-hour, same day, and rush service) is also
available from IDS Courier, which operates 24 hours a day and provides pick-up
and delivery anywhere in the Bay Area and in portions of northern and central
California. For information call Linda Wright at 548-3263.

Mentors at Berkeley Lab have until Wednesday, March 8 to select students for
the DOE-sponsored Energy Research Undergraduate Laboratory Fellowship Program.
More than 200 college students with majors in science, computer science and
engineering from across the country have selected Berkeley Lab as their first
choice for summer research assignments under the program.

Their applications can be viewed online on the Center for Science and
Engineering's website at http://csee.lbl.gov/mentors. html. To access the
applications users will need to be assigned a user ID and two passwords, which
can be obtained by calling Laurel Egenberger at X5190 or the CSEE office at
X5511.

The applications currently available are for Round 1, for students who selected
Berkeley Lab as their first choice. After the March 8 deadline the application
process will move to Round 2, for students who selected Berkeley as their
second choice.

Students' stipends, travel and housing are paid by the CSEE. The DOE's Office
of Science has encouraged and will support expanding the Laboratory program for
this summer.

The next training class in "Ergonomics for Computer Users" will be held on
Friday, March 10 in the Berkeley Tower Building (Bldg. 937, Room 649) in
downtown Berkeley from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Employees who wish to take the class
should pre-register with Martin Dooly. The class is limited to 20 participants.

The 90-minute training covers various ways to minimize health problems stemming
from computer use. These include work station evaluation, changing work habits,
and regularly taking breaks and stretching.

For more information, contact Martin Dooly at X4371 or MKDooly@ lbl.gov

The EH&S Division has announced the addition to its website of a web page
for the Lab's Lessons Learned safety program, developed to help employees avoid
past safety mistakes. The program staff identified accidents, mishaps and near
misses and suggests actions to prevent their recurrence in an effort to
continuously improve safety performance, a central goal of the Laboratory's
Integrated Safety Management System.

The Lessons Learned web page can be accessed on the EH&S website at
http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/ by clicking on the "Lessons Learned" button in the left
margin.

Questions regarding the program may be directed to Larry McLouth at X5286 or
ldmclouth@lbl.gov.

UC's Lawrence Hall of Science is organizing a variety of summer camps which
emphasize fun outdoor science exploration through hands-on, inquiry-based
activities. Included are residential science camps, Sierra backpacking science
camps, and high school research camps. Each camp has a unique theme and is
designed for a specific age group:

Fees include meals, lodging, instruction and transportation to and from the
Hall of Science. For more information call 642-2275, send e-mail to lhsinfo@
uclink.berkeley.edu or look up the LHS website at http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/classes/camps.html . To register call 642-5134.

The blue bags lining trash cans all over the Laboratory will be replaced by the
end of March with clear trash liners. Specially marked stickers on all
containers will identify their purpose. Every container should have a new
sticker that reads either "non-recyclable trash" or a specific recycling
target.

Center for Beam Physics Seminar Series"Overloading of Truncated
Power Series Algebra and Various Differential and Lie Algebraic Operations"
will be presented by Etienne Forest of KEK.10:30 a.m., Bldg. 71 conference
room

Life Sciences Division"Obesity in Mice and Men: From the Mouse to
Molecules" will be presented by David West of Berkeley Lab's Department of
Molecular and Nuclear Medicine 4:00 p.m., Bldg. 66Refreshments precede
the seminar

Center for Beam Physics Special Seminar"Simulation Study of Electron
Cloud Problem and Beam Scrubbing for the LHC" will be presented by Xialong
Zhang of IHEP.2:00 p.m., Bldg. 71B conference room**Please note special
day, time and venue

A new fellowship in honor of Nobel laureate Luis W. Alvarez has been
established by NERSC to encourage the development and application of tools that
advance scientific research. In the 1950s Alvarez opened a new era in
high-energy physics research with his bubble chamber, a device that allowed
scientists to discover new particles and analyze their behavior. Alvarez was
also one of the first scientists to propose using computing devices for
analyzing experimental data. By the 1960s Alvarez' colleagues at Berkeley Lab
were using computers to track some 1.5 million particle physics events every
year, and developed scientific computing techniques adopted by researchers
around the world.

Alvarez won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1968.

Fellowship applicants must be recent graduates (within the past four years)
with a strong study emphasis in computing or computational science. The
fellowship is offered as a one-year term appointment with the possibility of a
one-year renewal. The successful applicant will be compensated with a
competitive salary and will have access to NERSC's high-performance computing
resources.

Applications are due by April 1 for an appointment to coincide with the coming
academic year. Applicants should submit a letter of application, a resume and
three letters of reference by email to Ewa Elkins, eaelkins@lbl.gov.

Ads are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel.
Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale.

Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number.

Ads must be submitted in writing only -- via e-mail (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax
(X6641), or delivered/ mailed to Bldg. 65B. Ads run one week only unless
resubmitted in writing, and are repeated only as space permits.